For those who do not know, Chase has the not-so-public 5/24 rule for opening credit cards. The rule is that you will not be approved for another Chase credit card if you have opened up five new credit cards (even if they aren’t Chase credit cards) in the past 24 months; for the most part, business cards work a little differently.
It is very important to know this rule. Chase is one of the biggest players in the credit card game, from their regular credit cards like the Freedom Unlimited, Freedom Flex, Sapphire Preferred, and the Sapphire Reserved to their hotel-branded cards and airline-branded cards. Chase is great and has excellent value for their points. Along with the Chase Ultimate Rewards, it just all mixes up for a great credit card arena.
Not knowing this rule could make you miss out on some great cards. Or put you in a tough spot of which cards to open. Knowing that we are planning a year of travel, trying to plan which cards to open to optimize our points is crucial.
So, this rule put me in a pickle for the longest time. I opened two cards in the past 24 months, the Chase Sapphire Preferred in November 2021 and the Capital One Venture X in November 2022. So I could only apply for three more Chase credit cards if I chose not to open any other credit cards. (I also have the Chase Freedom I opened in 2013).
But which three to pick!? It has been my internal debate for the last few months, and I have been going back and forth between multiple ones but am still determining which would be the perfect 3. There is probably no such thing as the perfect three.
Do you go with all hotel cards and get the IHG, Hyatt, and Marriott, or do you go with some airline cards? Or a mix of both? Should you wait for higher welcome bonuses and hold off on getting other non-chase cards for more time?
We both had the Chase Freedom and the Chase Sapphire Preferred. If you have slots open for the 5/24 I would highly recommend opening one of those options.
For me, I had to focus on our goals. One general goal is to use these next 15 months to rack up as many miles and points as possible. So, I couldn’t just wait for the perfect sign-on bonus.
We also want to stay in hotels with great wifi for most of our year-long travel. This made me look more at the hotel-branded cards that chase offers.
The World of Hyatt only offers a credit card through Chase. As I am learning more and more about travel hacking and getting value out of points, the World of Hyatt receives high praise, which is why it has secured one of my coveted three spots for Chase Credit Cards. I do not want to miss out on this card!
This card will give you some status (you get the World of Hyatt Discoverist, their second lowest tier right after World of Hyatt Member.) and an anniversary night for a category 1 – 4 hotel.
This card is consistent with its welcome bonus: 30,000 Bonus Points after spending $3,000 on purchases in your first three months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 More Bonus Points by earning 2 Bonus Points total per $1 spent in the first six months from account opening on up to $15,000 spent. This card has a $95 annual fee.
Because the World of Hyatt Card’s welcome bonus is consistent, it will not be the first card I sign up for, but it will be one of the three Chase Credit Cards I open.
The second card I plan on getting is the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless. When writing this, the card had a sign-on bonus of three nights free after spending $3,000 in the first three months with a $95 annual fee.
I plan on waiting to get this card when the sign-on bonus has changed to a certain amount of points for $3,000 in spend. I am waiting for this because if the bonus was, let’s say the bonus was 100,000; we could get 5 or 6 nights free, and we plan on using the points to stay in more places rather than stay at luxurious hotels.
You cannot time the offers, but I would like to wait for the points bonus before I open the Boundless Card. In the meantime, I will get the Chase IHG Premier Card.
The Chase IHG Premier Card has a sign-on bonus of 140,000 points after $3,000 in spend. This card comes with a $99 annual fee. This amount of points for a bonus is excellent, so I am jumping on it and using one of my coveted three Chase Credit Card spots.
I will go into the benefits of these cards in later posts. But now you know how I will fill my last three spots for the Chase 5/24 rule and some of the reasoning behind those choices. Your card choices might be completely different.
These three cards might be the best for our future travel plans, or they might not be. But sometimes, you need to bite the bullet and jump in!
